Daily Devotional • December 23
A Reading from Isaiah 11:1-9
1 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Meditation
Today’s reading from the book of Isaiah invites us to consider three points in time. First, the prophecy itself, written in our ancient Judaic history. “A shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” Long before God entered our world in human flesh, his birth was foretold.
Second, as we near the season of Christmas, we’re invited to remember the birth of Christ. Because we’re so familiar with the birth story, it’s easy to let our eyes glaze over this singular moment in time. Remember: this is the moment when everything changes. This is the moment when God enters creation! I invite you to imagine the birth of Christ rippling forwards and backwards through time, imbuing everything that’s happened and everything that is to come.
Finally, we’re invited to look towards a future when all will be set aright. As a writer, I’m particularly drawn to the images in this passage. A baby plays beside a venomous cobra, and a toddler places her hand in a pit of writhing snakes — yet none harms the other. As a person with a chronic illness, I’m particularly moved by what these images mean. One day, the pathogenic bacteria — bacteria that just so happens to look like snakes when you place them under a microscope — these bacteria that live inside my tissues might reside in my body, and neither of us will try to kill the other. During the final days of advent, let us set our gaze on this redeemed time. Let us pray, Come, Father, Son, and Holy Spirt.
Elizabeth Hamilton’s writing has appeared in the Dallas Museum of Art, Southern Humanities Review, and Texas Monthly. She has an MFA from Seattle Pacific University. Find her work at elizabethannehamilton.com
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Daily Devotional Cycle of Prayer
Today we pray for:
The Church of the Province of Uganda
Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, Waco, Texas
